Growing Okra

Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Okra

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Okra is traditionally a southern U.S. plant that thrives in warm weather. Here’s how to grow okra plants in your own garden!

Okra is easy to grow and use and looks great throughout the growing season due to its beautiful flowers. It’s also rich in vitamin A and low in calories, which makes it a great addition to your diet.

Planting

You can start okra seeds indoors in peat pots under full light 3 to 4 weeks before the last spring frost date.

You can also start okra directly in your garden 3 to 4 weeks before the last spring frost date as long as you cover the plants with a cold frame or grow tunnel until the weather warms up. Make sure that the covering is 2 to 3 feet tall so that the plants have room to grow.

If you do not start your okra plants early, wait until there is stable warm weather. You can plant okra in the garden when the soil has warmed to 65° to 70°F.

Plant okra in fertile, well-drained soil in full light about ½ to 1 inch deep and 12 to 18 inches apart. You can soak the seeds overnight in tepid water to help speed up germination.

If you are planting okra transplants, be sure to space them 1 to 2 feet apart to give them ample room to grow.

Okra plants are tall, so be sure to space out the rows 3 to 4 feet apart.

Care

Eliminate weeds when the plants are young, then mulch heavily to prevent more weeds from growing. Apply a layer of mulch 4 to 8 inches high. You should also side-dress the plants with 10-10-10, aged manure, or rich compost (½ pound per 25 feet of row). You could also apply a balanced liquid fertilizer monthly. Learn more about soil amendments and preparing soil for planting.

When the seedlings are about 3 inches tall, thin the plants so that they are 10 to 18 inches apart.

Keep the plants well watered throughout the summer months; 1 inch of water per week is ideal, but use more if you are in a hot, arid region.

After the first harvest, remove the lower leaves to help speed up production.

Pests/Diseases

Harvest/Storage

Harvest the okra when it’s about 2 to 3 inches long. Harvest it every other day.

Cut the stem just above the cap with a knife; if the stem is too hard to cut, the pod is probably too old and should be tossed.

Wear gloves and long sleeves when cutting the okra because most varieties are covered with tiny spines that will irritate your skin, unless you have a spineless variety. Do not worry: this irritation will not happen when you eat them.

To store okra, put the uncut and uncooked pods into freezer bags and keep them in the freezer. You can then prepare the okra any way you like throughout the winter months.

Epsom salt spray

Epsom Salt Spray

Epsom salts are made of magnesium and sulfur, which are beneficial nutrients required by plants. Magnesium especially helps with photosynthesis, and therefore fruit production. Measured spraying of certain plants with an epsom salt solution is a good way to ensure that the plants are getting enough magnesium to produce healthy fruits.

Okra

okra in containers

It sure can! Make sure your planter is at least 12 to 14 inches deep. Also, it is best to choose a dwarf variety, such as “Baby Bubba” or “Cajun Jewel.” Dwarf types won’t grow higher than 5 feet. (Other okra varieties can grow as much as 8 feet or more, which would be difficult in an elevated container.)

okra- companion and combative vegetable plant

I live in East Texas and would like to know what are companion vegetable plants and combative vegetable plants to plant along side okra. No one haves okra on their companion/combative plant charts. Could you please, please help me out with the answer. Thank you

Okra

Between my daughter and myself we had so much Okra did not know what to do with it. Started become creative with Okra as well as learning how to can it. Finally my neighbors found out I had so much and I started giving it away. My goodness in the grocery store it's $3.48 lb.

How to plant okra

If you are serious about the production okra you can contact me me for guides.am an agriculture student in the university of buea third year and am always in Douala from time to time, contact 670382172

growing okra

am from Botswana and I have planted okra but it has been affected by a hash coldness, the leaves, flowers and fruits were affected but the stems are still okay now I wanted to find out if there is still anything that can be done.

okro

okra

Cleaning up the bed to start planting next week, realized some of what I was pulling up was baby okra plants. Reseeded itself from last year (our first try for okra). The question is, will these plants produce, or should we start over? These were from starters we got at the garden center. Wichita Kansas

okra seedlings

You can certainly try some of them out. How they turn out will depend on whether the cultivar you obtained from the garden center was a hybrid or not. If it was a hybrid, the next generation of seeds may not produce plants that have the same characteristics of the parent. Traits that might be good or bad may show. Also, even if the parent plants were not hybrids (such as open-pollinated or heirloom varieties), if they were not isolated from other varieties of okra by about 500 to 1600 feet, then they may have cross-pollinated, thereby creating offspring of varying traits. To be on the safe side, to know that you will have plants bred for quality harvest and vigor, you might want to start over. But if you’d like to experiment, then you can try keeping some of those seedlings and see how they develop.

I've had a bumper crop this

I've had a bumper crop this year and now am letting the top pods grow large and hopefully dry for seeds, but it will freeze here soon. Do I leave the plants & pods out in the garden (will the freeze matter) or should I cut the plants and hang inside to let the pods finish drying?

It’s best if you can let the

It’s best if you can let the pods mature and dry on the plant while it is in the garden. However, severe freezes can damage the pods. If you expect one, you might want to cut the plant and hang it inside to dry (perhaps put a paper bag over it, so if the pods do shatter, you won’t lose the seeds). Good luck!

Pennsylvania Okra grower

I grew Crimson Okra and it has done exceeding well. The plants themselves are 4+ feet tall and the fruit of the plants are beautiful. The flowers are picture perfect. I did save some seeds for next year so I can enjoy this plant again.

Most A esculentus okra is an annual

In the tropics A esculentus is an annual. I live in Panama. A esculentus variety's that are usually grown in the USA, only live about 3 months here in Panama. There is a local Panamanian A esculentus variety that does live longer than this. However, it is still an annual. African okra, or A Caillei, is another species of okra that is usually grown in the tropics. This species of okra can be grown as a perrenial in the tropics. Daylength does have an affect on A esculentus even though the internet does say it is Daylength neutral. Short daylength Shortens the havest period and the lifespan of most A esculentus variety's I have tried. There is a lot of disinformation going around about okra in the US because USA gardeners do not have experience growing okra in Africa or the tropics.